This nonprovisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119(a) on Patent Application No. 2000-220997 filed in Japan on Jul. 21, 2000 which is herein incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to a work inspection apparatus that is used for inspecting electrical characteristics of works, such as resistors, capacitors and other chip type electronic parts in their manufacturing process and more particularly to a work inspection apparatus capable of accurately inspecting works.
A work inspection apparatus equipped with a disc type turntable that has work holding pockets at the periphery and a measuring electrode that is brought in contact with a work held in the work holder of the turntable and performs prescribed electrical inspection has been so far known.
The measuring electrode is brought in contact with works held in the work holding pockets of the turntable and inspects electrical characteristics of works retained in the work holding pockets are inspected.
Generally, the surfaces of works are subject to surface treatment such as soldering, etc. When electric characteristic of works are inspected by making the measuring electrode brought in contact with the works, oxidized non-conductors such as solder on the work surface may adhere to the measuring electrode. Such oxidized non-conductors adhered on the measuring electrode are accumulated gradually with the increase of the number of inspections. As a result, there is caused such a problem that contact resistance of the measuring electrode increase and therefore the inspection accuracy deteriorate.
The present invention has been made in view of the points described above and it is an object of the present invention to provide a work inspection apparatus that is capable of maintaining the inspection accuracy by reducing contact resistance of a measuring electrode.
The work inspection apparatus is composed of a base, a turntable with plural work holding pockets spaced on a periphery thereof for holding works, and a measuring electrode that is brought in contact with works and performs the prescribed electric characteristic inspection of the works. The work holding pockets are open outward and works are carried in and out through these openings, and a polishing member is mounted in at least one work holding groove of the turntable for polishing the measuring electrode.
According to the present invention, works are carried in the work holding pockets that are opened outward. The turntable is rotated, the measuring electrode is brought in contact with the works in the work holding pockets and a prescribed inspection is performed. After completing the electric characteristic inspection of a prescribed number of works, the measuring electrode is brought in contact with the polishing member and the surfaces of the measuring electrode are polished.